Real estate of Miami is in increased demand of buyers from all around-the world

According to the data of АРМ (Association of REALTORS® MIAMI), South Florida and its largest metropolis the ‘Greater Miami’ deserved the 1st place in the USA and the 5th in the world in terms of global international demand for residential real estate of the most prestigious and comfortable for living regions on the planet in 2017.

As stated in the report ‘2017 Profile of International Homebuyers of Miami Association of REALTORS®‘, the significant annual growth of international demand for residential real estate in South Florida was over 14.5%. In 2017, international buyers spent $ 7.1 million for properties in this sunny region that is $ 900 millions more then in 2016. It shows that foreigners bought 15,400 housing units, which is 41.3% or 4,500 residential properties more than during 2016.

According to the NAR‘s 2017 Profile of International Activity in U.S. Residential Real Estate, foreign citizens have purchased 22% of residential properties in 2017 in Florida, which is the highest number in the country. Most of the housing in this state, more accurately 53%, was bought by foreigners in the Greater Miami Area: combined area of Miami with city of Fort Lauderdale and the suburb of West Palm Beach, which are located in the south-eastern part of the Florida peninsula.

One of markers of the high international demand for Miami real estate was a large number of deals completed by cash buyers. In 2017, they accounted up to 40.4% of the total off-market sales, which is twice more the similar average numbers in the USA.

In particular, foreign real estate property buyers have made 35% of off-market deals in Miami and 24% in other cities of Florida.

Last year, buyers paid the most often in cash for housing in residential complexes of Miami, that was 55.5% compared to all sales of all types of housing. For comparison, in 2017, shares of single-family (detached) homes in sales for cash amounted to 25.1%. According to EWM Realty International, more than 60% of the elite real estate deals, pricing over $1 million each, was made in Miami-Dade County by cash buyers.

Among the countries whose residents in 2017 were more likely to buy properties in South Florida and the Greater Miami Area are Argentina (15%), Venezuela (11%), Canada and Colombia (9% each), Brazil (8%), France, Ecuador and Mexico (4% each). This list ends by the UK, Italy, Chile, China and the Dominican Republic, (3% each), as well as Germany and the Russian Federation with 2% of the total amount of international housing purchases in this region.

The majority of residential properties in South Florida was bought by the Russians after the economic crisis of 2008. According to the US census, about 0.6% of the urban population of Miami is originated from Russia.

Real estate markets of South Florida and California are leading in the US because of the growing international demand for aesthetically attractive and comfortable American housing. However, as shown by analysis of local US demand for properties in Miami, Californian residents from Los Angeles, Simi Valley and San Francisco were in a lead at number of requests for property buying search in 2017. In addition to Miami, the most popular among international property buyers in the US are megalopolises and resorts of the states of California, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, Hawaii, Arizona and Texas.